Tad Jacks’ Wednesday Thoughts

Immediate response

Since email and text messaging are now the accepted way of communication, I have observed many adults becoming increasingly frustrated often feeling they have to handle the matter immediately- even when they do not have to do so. What prompted me to think about it is that there is a journalist who wrote about the change in the newsroom over the last several years. He talked about how when he worked on the evening edition of the newspaper he would work from 3 pm to 11 pm and then “put the paper to bed”. The next morning, if there was a follow-up the daily paper team could take care of it. Now most news is called “breaking news”. With the email and text messaging, many of us feel the pressure of responding immediately. This is how I feel at times and I try hard to stop my behavior. We have a solution at school. I am glad that we do not let our students have their handheld devices with them during the school day (except for our high school students who can use them at breaks and lunch) because hopefully we are helping them not become as frustrated with the frequency of the “interruptions” that can disrupt a day and increase anxiety.